I'm plumping for Metro Line Station my memory is hazy admittedly but I don't recall the Metro turnstiles being anything other than decorative Also the armoured ticket machines at Meadow Well station, don't expect a revenue protection officer would have lasted more than a few minutes there
Not Machester Lime Street (like I suggested on the last thread)?
Well it was "a MLS".... paging @Battlebus clarification required
I would have thought the death of a journalist who broke a story that has been massive national debate for 10+ years would be up at the top of the headlines. It is reported by most outlets, you have to really search it out. And of course we can't go into any details about it on here.
This "feeling it" business, a lot of that comes from narratives pushed by vested interests. People don't decide how they feel based purely on objective reality.
This is true in good times. In bad times, I don't think vested interests can convince people things are going well.
Something that certainly has improved recently is Radio 3, whose listening figures are up. The 7pm Classical Mix tape is a daily joy and worth a listen.
Likewise, air
Is it me or is air improved of late? I don't mean quality, I mean mood, variation and caprice
For example, I've noticed an uptick of zephyrs in the last two to three years. Possibly a Brexit benefit, but definitely a thing. Zephyrs are up. Also wafts, chinooks and near-imperceptible quiddities - all on the rise
WHY? My friend Loic thinks it's just draughtier, but then he's always glass half full, wanker
This "feeling it" business, a lot of that comes from narratives pushed by vested interests. People don't decide how they feel based purely on objective reality.
This is true in good times. In bad times, I don't think vested interests can convince people things are going well.
I think even the worlds best spin merchants would struggle to convince people the high street is going well in most towns up and down the country.
"A significant part of the growth the UK has experienced is due to the fact that there are more people living here. When it comes to living standards, it’s what’s happening to GDP per Head (which divides GDP by the total UK population) that really matters. GDP per Head in the UK (£9,279) is only 0.1% higher than when Labour came to power in July (£9,269) last year and is still lower than it was at the end of 2019 (£9,316) just before the start of the pandemic."
GDP per head is in any case an idiotic measure when the big story of recent decades is that almost all of the growth has been captured by those few who were already the most wealthy.
Point of order: GDP measures economic* output, not wealth.
Quick question for our economists. If I install solar panels and a battery on my roof, and use them solely to reduce the amount of electricity I need to buy from the grid, won't that reduce GDP? (As that economic activity - electricity generation - no longer results in a measurable transaction.)
* Essentially taxable economic output, rather than total.
Something that certainly has improved recently is Radio 3, whose listening figures are up. The 7pm Classical Mix tape is a daily joy and worth a listen.
Likewise, air
Is it me or is air improved of late? I don't mean quality, I mean mood, variation and caprice
For example, I've noticed an uptick of zephyrs in the last two to three years. Possibly a Brexit benefit, but definitely a thing. Zephyrs are up. Also wafts, chinooks and near-imperceptible quiddities - all on the rise
WHY? My friend Loic thinks it's just draughtier, but then he's always glass half full, wanker
Caprice shut, sadly. And Arlington just isn't the same.
"A significant part of the growth the UK has experienced is due to the fact that there are more people living here. When it comes to living standards, it’s what’s happening to GDP per Head (which divides GDP by the total UK population) that really matters. GDP per Head in the UK (£9,279) is only 0.1% higher than when Labour came to power in July (£9,269) last year and is still lower than it was at the end of 2019 (£9,316) just before the start of the pandemic."
GDP per head is in any case an idiotic measure when the big story of recent decades is that almost all of the growth has been captured by those few who were already the most wealthy.
Point of order: GDP measures economic* output, not wealth.
Quick question for our economists. If I install solar panels and a battery on my roof, and use them solely to reduce the amount of electricity I need to buy from the grid, won't that reduce GDP? (As that economic activity - electricity generation - no longer results in a measurable transaction.)
* Essentially taxable economic output, rather than total.
Yes, or at least once you've 'paid off' the investment through reduced purchasing of electricity from the grid.
Netanyahu now says flat out that he will not end the war.
Hamas could end the war by surrendering unconditionally and releasing the hostages.
Netanyahu is a bad, corrupt leader who should be replaced but even broken clocks can be right. Why the hell should Israel end the war before Hamas are defeated and before the hostages are released?
Because they are engaged in a crime against humanity.
Israel had the right to wage war against Hamas, and, by extension, the Gaza territory it was the de facto government of, within the bounds of the laws of international conflict. Those bounds have been so consistently breached, and, in its blockade, so grossly breached, that it's time for the international community to act.
Put simply, Israel is not conducting a war of legitimate military action but of, at minimum, ethnic cleansing and, perhaps, extermination. The latter would certainly be the practical outcome of its current policy if continues, as appears to be the Israeli government's intention.
Time to place full sanctions on the regime, and on the country.
I agree with this but can anyone tell me if hostage taking (and murder of said hostages) is a war crime?
Yes, of course it is. So was the original Hamas attack on unarmed civilians, and the murders, rapes and other crimes that accompanied it. That formed a legitimate casus belli.
However, the war crimes of one side do not legitimise* the war crimes of the other, particularly when the other's crimes are considerably in excess of the original.
* There is a case, which I'd agree with, that when one side in a war engages in actions which are illegal but give it an advantage, as a matter of policy, then that legitimises the victim to take proportionate and equivalent actions in retaliation and/or defence. This is dodgy ground legally but it cannot be right that a victim is bound to suffer further - and potentially to lose a war - in defence of a principle that the aggressor rejects. Where is the logic in that? However, that doesn't apply to Israel/Gaza, where Israel started the war with an overwhelming military advantage, and has only increased that advantage since.
An overwhelming military advantage is only relevant when the fight is conventional, but this is not a conventional war.
When Hamas use hospitals as human shields and embed themselves into Gazan society as much as they can, Israel can't use its overwhelming majority advantage so the fighting is going to be riskier and at much more risk of innocent civilian casualties.
Or they could, but it would utterly flatten and wipe out the entire population. Which they could do if they wanted to, but they haven't, quite rightly as it would not be proportional.
Yes they could and it would be genocide but what could/will the world do about it?
That’s the equation in play at the moment
Thankfully Israel isn't doing that, because they're not genocidal, no matter if they regularly get falsely accused of being so.
If Israel were half as bad as they're accused of being, the death toll would be much higher.
Oh, so Israel haven't slaughtered enough of one religious group to be considered genocidal? How many then? Do we have to wait for them to slaughter 6 million?
If they were genocidal then I'd expect 2 million dead approximately - and I would oppose that as evil.
Targetting Hamas, even if it risks collateral damage, OTOH is legitimate.
There are only three ways I can see to avoid collateral damage:
1: Hamas surrenders - my preference. 2: Innocent Palestinians get refuge elsewhere away from the violent conflict - what refuge status and asylum is supposed to be for, is it not? 3: Israel surrenders letting Hamas survive.
I don't see option 3 as acceptable. My preference is 1, then 2, others it seem prefer 3.
Killing 2 million civilians is a bit of a throwing the baby out with the bathwater solution.
I don't believe anyone is supporting Hamas. Some are just a little queasy that in order to resolve the Hamas problem we are looking at incredible levels of collateral damage.
Its reasonable to be queasy about it, but there is no other realistic, serious way of eliminating Hamas than following similar paths to that which eliminated the Tamil Tigers.
Hamas are not the IRA, and its not possible to negotiate with them like that and to try yet again is that definition of insanity quote and something Israel quite reasonably won't countenance after what happened last time.
Either come up with a serious, credible alternative path to completely eliminate Hamas or let Israel finish the job. In the mean time, for any innocent Palestinians, there should be alternative options like refugee status available which is why they exist in times of war.
It might not be so horrible if it wasn't a war involving the same ethinc group separated only by religion. In that they are are rather like the IRA and the UV though.
In that one respect they are like them, yes.
But the IRA and UV were never anywhere near as nihilistic as Hamas.
The IRA were monsters in their own way who bombed my home town, killing children, while I was a child, but they were a completely different beast.
I don't recall IRA members committing suicide by bombing to kill as many people as they could on their way out to their 72 virgins.
I don't recall the IRA taking hundreds of hostages and killing and raping thousands in one day.
I don't recall the RAF flattening Derry either.
But peace only happens when we move beyond the past. It entails a step into the future. If Israel is not intent on genocide or ethnic cleansing, as you insist, then Israel can start by making that clear to the Palestinians.
You're right of course, Derry was never the warzone that Gaza is thanks to Hamas. Making your comparison to Northern Irelans all the more facetious and inappropriate.
An appropriate comparator would be ... Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan army is not, perhaps, an organisation that one would wish to emulate (though I accept, the Tamil Tigers were worse).
This "feeling it" business, a lot of that comes from narratives pushed by vested interests. People don't decide how they feel based purely on objective reality.
This is true in good times. In bad times, I don't think vested interests can convince people things are going well.
I think even the worlds best spin merchants would struggle to convince people the high street is going well in most towns up and down the country.
If we got rid of all ants and their vulgar "nests" we could replace them with charging stations for cordless vacuum cleaners
It's stuff like this that gets me noticed by Nobel prizewinners, and recruited into the "blue sky thinking units" in top G20 governments, while the rest of you waddle around Newent and Wick
I used to live next door to some lesbians and they even bought me a Rolex.
I think they misunderstood me when I told them I wanna watch.
I hear you, and I used to agree
But I'm wondering if we've made a terrible error, allowing them to happen when we could have parks and orchards, where the lesbians used to be
It’s fine, it might not be parks and orchards but wherever you find lesbians will be unspoilt bush and don’t forget you will also get nicely trimmed ladygardens delicately laid in close proximity?
This "feeling it" business, a lot of that comes from narratives pushed by vested interests. People don't decide how they feel based purely on objective reality.
This is true in good times. In bad times, I don't think vested interests can convince people things are going well.
I think even the worlds best spin merchants would struggle to convince people the high street is going well in most towns up and down the country.
Netanyahu now says flat out that he will not end the war.
Hamas could end the war by surrendering unconditionally and releasing the hostages.
Netanyahu is a bad, corrupt leader who should be replaced but even broken clocks can be right. Why the hell should Israel end the war before Hamas are defeated and before the hostages are released?
Because they are engaged in a crime against humanity.
Israel had the right to wage war against Hamas, and, by extension, the Gaza territory it was the de facto government of, within the bounds of the laws of international conflict. Those bounds have been so consistently breached, and, in its blockade, so grossly breached, that it's time for the international community to act.
Put simply, Israel is not conducting a war of legitimate military action but of, at minimum, ethnic cleansing and, perhaps, extermination. The latter would certainly be the practical outcome of its current policy if continues, as appears to be the Israeli government's intention.
Time to place full sanctions on the regime, and on the country.
I agree with this but can anyone tell me if hostage taking (and murder of said hostages) is a war crime?
Yes, of course it is. So was the original Hamas attack on unarmed civilians, and the murders, rapes and other crimes that accompanied it. That formed a legitimate casus belli.
However, the war crimes of one side do not legitimise* the war crimes of the other, particularly when the other's crimes are considerably in excess of the original.
* There is a case, which I'd agree with, that when one side in a war engages in actions which are illegal but give it an advantage, as a matter of policy, then that legitimises the victim to take proportionate and equivalent actions in retaliation and/or defence. This is dodgy ground legally but it cannot be right that a victim is bound to suffer further - and potentially to lose a war - in defence of a principle that the aggressor rejects. Where is the logic in that? However, that doesn't apply to Israel/Gaza, where Israel started the war with an overwhelming military advantage, and has only increased that advantage since.
An overwhelming military advantage is only relevant when the fight is conventional, but this is not a conventional war.
When Hamas use hospitals as human shields and embed themselves into Gazan society as much as they can, Israel can't use its overwhelming majority advantage so the fighting is going to be riskier and at much more risk of innocent civilian casualties.
Or they could, but it would utterly flatten and wipe out the entire population. Which they could do if they wanted to, but they haven't, quite rightly as it would not be proportional.
Yes they could and it would be genocide but what could/will the world do about it?
That’s the equation in play at the moment
Thankfully Israel isn't doing that, because they're not genocidal, no matter if they regularly get falsely accused of being so.
If Israel were half as bad as they're accused of being, the death toll would be much higher.
Oh, so Israel haven't slaughtered enough of one religious group to be considered genocidal? How many then? Do we have to wait for them to slaughter 6 million?
If they were genocidal then I'd expect 2 million dead approximately - and I would oppose that as evil.
Targetting Hamas, even if it risks collateral damage, OTOH is legitimate.
There are only three ways I can see to avoid collateral damage:
1: Hamas surrenders - my preference. 2: Innocent Palestinians get refuge elsewhere away from the violent conflict - what refuge status and asylum is supposed to be for, is it not? 3: Israel surrenders letting Hamas survive.
I don't see option 3 as acceptable. My preference is 1, then 2, others it seem prefer 3.
Killing 2 million civilians is a bit of a throwing the baby out with the bathwater solution.
I don't believe anyone is supporting Hamas. Some are just a little queasy that in order to resolve the Hamas problem we are looking at incredible levels of collateral damage.
Its reasonable to be queasy about it, but there is no other realistic, serious way of eliminating Hamas than following similar paths to that which eliminated the Tamil Tigers.
Hamas are not the IRA, and its not possible to negotiate with them like that and to try yet again is that definition of insanity quote and something Israel quite reasonably won't countenance after what happened last time.
Either come up with a serious, credible alternative path to completely eliminate Hamas or let Israel finish the job. In the mean time, for any innocent Palestinians, there should be alternative options like refugee status available which is why they exist in times of war.
It might not be so horrible if it wasn't a war involving the same ethinc group separated only by religion. In that they are are rather like the IRA and the UV though.
In that one respect they are like them, yes.
But the IRA and UV were never anywhere near as nihilistic as Hamas.
The IRA were monsters in their own way who bombed my home town, killing children, while I was a child, but they were a completely different beast.
I don't recall IRA members committing suicide by bombing to kill as many people as they could on their way out to their 72 virgins.
I don't recall the IRA taking hundreds of hostages and killing and raping thousands in one day.
I don't recall the RAF flattening Derry either.
But peace only happens when we move beyond the past. It entails a step into the future. If Israel is not intent on genocide or ethnic cleansing, as you insist, then Israel can start by making that clear to the Palestinians.
You're right of course, Derry was never the warzone that Gaza is thanks to Hamas. Making your comparison to Northern Irelans all the more facetious and inappropriate.
I have just seen served an ad for Aston Martin integration with Apply Carplay...what the f##k is the look of Aston Martin's these days, it looks like a Kia SUV. Nought wrong with KIA these days, but the ladies would laugh at James Bond if he pulled up to the Monte Carlo Casino in that thing.
They do seem to be excessively transphobic for some mysterious reason..
Perhaps they need to be educated as to what an actual woman is 🤔
The Dave Chappelle routine (generally not a fan) on the complexities of how different members of the LGBT+ communities feel about one another is rather funny. It does seem like they might need to undergo a sort of Labour / SDP split.
Something that certainly has improved recently is Radio 3, whose listening figures are up. The 7pm Classical Mix tape is a daily joy and worth a listen.
Well, it has amusement value, but the interjection half way through that tells you what you are listening to rather grates.
I have just seen served an ad for Aston Martin integration with Apply Carplay...what the f##k is the look of Aston Martin's these days, it looks like a Kia SUV. Nought wrong with KIA these days, but the ladies would laugh at James Bond if he pulled up to the Monte Carlo Casino in that thing.
As Trump is saying that “nothings going to happen until Putin and I are together” why the fuck was he insisting that Ukraine went to these BS peace talks in Turkey? Idiot.
Pardo had been aware of the threats made by her son, expressed to the school her support of his "violent expressions and drawings" and said she did not feel concerned for his behavior, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit noted that Pardo was purchasing the gear and ammunition for her son in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings.
Netanyahu now says flat out that he will not end the war.
Hamas could end the war by surrendering unconditionally and releasing the hostages.
Netanyahu is a bad, corrupt leader who should be replaced but even broken clocks can be right. Why the hell should Israel end the war before Hamas are defeated and before the hostages are released?
Because they are engaged in a crime against humanity.
Israel had the right to wage war against Hamas, and, by extension, the Gaza territory it was the de facto government of, within the bounds of the laws of international conflict. Those bounds have been so consistently breached, and, in its blockade, so grossly breached, that it's time for the international community to act.
Put simply, Israel is not conducting a war of legitimate military action but of, at minimum, ethnic cleansing and, perhaps, extermination. The latter would certainly be the practical outcome of its current policy if continues, as appears to be the Israeli government's intention.
Time to place full sanctions on the regime, and on the country.
I agree with this but can anyone tell me if hostage taking (and murder of said hostages) is a war crime?
Yes, of course it is. So was the original Hamas attack on unarmed civilians, and the murders, rapes and other crimes that accompanied it. That formed a legitimate casus belli.
However, the war crimes of one side do not legitimise* the war crimes of the other, particularly when the other's crimes are considerably in excess of the original.
* There is a case, which I'd agree with, that when one side in a war engages in actions which are illegal but give it an advantage, as a matter of policy, then that legitimises the victim to take proportionate and equivalent actions in retaliation and/or defence. This is dodgy ground legally but it cannot be right that a victim is bound to suffer further - and potentially to lose a war - in defence of a principle that the aggressor rejects. Where is the logic in that? However, that doesn't apply to Israel/Gaza, where Israel started the war with an overwhelming military advantage, and has only increased that advantage since.
An overwhelming military advantage is only relevant when the fight is conventional, but this is not a conventional war.
When Hamas use hospitals as human shields and embed themselves into Gazan society as much as they can, Israel can't use its overwhelming majority advantage so the fighting is going to be riskier and at much more risk of innocent civilian casualties.
Or they could, but it would utterly flatten and wipe out the entire population. Which they could do if they wanted to, but they haven't, quite rightly as it would not be proportional.
Yes they could and it would be genocide but what could/will the world do about it?
That’s the equation in play at the moment
Thankfully Israel isn't doing that, because they're not genocidal, no matter if they regularly get falsely accused of being so.
If Israel were half as bad as they're accused of being, the death toll would be much higher.
Oh, so Israel haven't slaughtered enough of one religious group to be considered genocidal? How many then? Do we have to wait for them to slaughter 6 million?
If they were genocidal then I'd expect 2 million dead approximately - and I would oppose that as evil.
Targetting Hamas, even if it risks collateral damage, OTOH is legitimate.
There are only three ways I can see to avoid collateral damage:
1: Hamas surrenders - my preference. 2: Innocent Palestinians get refuge elsewhere away from the violent conflict - what refuge status and asylum is supposed to be for, is it not? 3: Israel surrenders letting Hamas survive.
I don't see option 3 as acceptable. My preference is 1, then 2, others it seem prefer 3.
Killing 2 million civilians is a bit of a throwing the baby out with the bathwater solution.
I don't believe anyone is supporting Hamas. Some are just a little queasy that in order to resolve the Hamas problem we are looking at incredible levels of collateral damage.
Its reasonable to be queasy about it, but there is no other realistic, serious way of eliminating Hamas than following similar paths to that which eliminated the Tamil Tigers.
Hamas are not the IRA, and its not possible to negotiate with them like that and to try yet again is that definition of insanity quote and something Israel quite reasonably won't countenance after what happened last time.
Either come up with a serious, credible alternative path to completely eliminate Hamas or let Israel finish the job. In the mean time, for any innocent Palestinians, there should be alternative options like refugee status available which is why they exist in times of war.
It might not be so horrible if it wasn't a war involving the same ethinc group separated only by religion. In that they are are rather like the IRA and the UV though.
In that one respect they are like them, yes.
But the IRA and UV were never anywhere near as nihilistic as Hamas.
The IRA were monsters in their own way who bombed my home town, killing children, while I was a child, but they were a completely different beast.
I don't recall IRA members committing suicide by bombing to kill as many people as they could on their way out to their 72 virgins.
I don't recall the IRA taking hundreds of hostages and killing and raping thousands in one day.
I don't recall the RAF flattening Derry either.
But peace only happens when we move beyond the past. It entails a step into the future. If Israel is not intent on genocide or ethnic cleansing, as you insist, then Israel can start by making that clear to the Palestinians.
You're right of course, Derry was never the warzone that Gaza is thanks to Hamas. Making your comparison to Northern Irelans all the more facetious and inappropriate.
An appropriate comparator would be ... Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan army is not, perhaps, an organisation that one would wish to emulate (though I accept, the Tamil Tigers were worse).
All the more an apt comparison with the Middle East then!
The IDF are not in normal circumstances an organisation anyone should want to emulate, though Hamas are considerably worse.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
TBH, if you see this through the lens of actions of a mafia boss it makes perfect sense....(perceived) you disrespect me in my own house, we will show you more disrespect by setting you up to embarrass you.
Another good poll for Reform, but the fieldwork is quite old, and you might say Labour have had a good week since with the economic figures and attention they’ve got about Sir Keir’s immigration speech
Each time I sat down today Trump was front and centre enjoying seemingly devoted receptions in the Middle East
It is tedious and our broadcastees are in thrall to him
Time to get a balance
Since last Saturday the Coastguard, RNLI, Police spotter planes and underwater search teams have been searching for a vulnerable teenager last seen by the water in his bathing trunks.
Extensive daily search have dominated our social media and indeed our son and his colleagues saw the sunset and sunrise whilst spending 8 hours overnight searching for him in the ILB after a spotter plane had located the child
It took a collective gathering of all the rescue services last night at 6.30 for the Conwy ILB to recover his body
The amazing response from the public to these events including a fund raising effort for the RNLI and for the young lads name to be inscribed on Llandudno AWB has been greatly moving
These are the things that matter and a whole community united in support for the young lad, his grieving family, and all the rescue services is what really counts
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Another good poll for Reform, but the fieldwork is quite old, and you might say Labour have had a good week since with the economic figures and attention they’ve got about Sir Keir’s immigration speech
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
They do indeed:
Büyük Britanya ve Kuzey İrlanda Birleşik Krallığı, or Birleşik Krallık for short.
As Trump is saying that “nothings going to happen until Putin and I are together” why the fuck was he insisting that Ukraine went to these BS peace talks in Turkey? Idiot.
I suspect Putin told him he's attend the peace talks, and Trump has only just realised he was lying. And is trying to rationalise it in a way that comports with his overweening narcissism.
If we got rid of all ants and their vulgar "nests" we could replace them with charging stations for cordless vacuum cleaners
It's stuff like this that gets me noticed by Nobel prizewinners, and recruited into the "blue sky thinking units" in top G20 governments, while the rest of you waddle around Newent and Wick
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
Nice to bring the subject back to the pb favourite of cheese, but I'm in Sainsbury's right now - not a massive one - and there's a choice of about 30 different British cheeses and that many again from abroad.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
Sounds blissful. French bread and cheese is just heaven. I spent a few days in Paris a while back and every breakfast was bread and cheese. Yum.
There are plenty of places to get good cheese in the UK, mind. In Jesmond there is a lovely shop called Grate. Has some smashing cheese. Love Cheese in York is great too.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
That's really not true. UK supermarkets are often great for cheese varieties
Waitrose and M&S are brilliant, and arguably even better than France because they will have more variety - eg British, Italian, Spanish as well as French
Tesco and Sainsburys are generally strong
Even the cheapos aren't terrible
France is probably supreme for cheese offerings in supermarkets but then that makes them the world number 1. Britain is probably sharing silver medal with Spain on this
If you want appalling choice of cheese go to, basically. almost any supermarket outside western Europe, as this article makes eloquently clear:
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
I met Sean Dyche once. He was super nice guy and really interesting. Despite his we eat bricks, we eat nails, fill in the opposition reputation, he is actually well read and knowledgeable about a lot of non-football things.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
But they should stop calling us "Birleşik Krallık" and call us by our proper name United Kingdom instead?
I’m told the mini market down from the station has a big problem with shoplifters. It appears to be mainly under 18s who have the view they’re untouchable. When adults intervene all they get is abuse as the police don’t turn up if reported.
If you have been around a while you will know this is an occasional and recurring problem in society (Oliver Twist syndrome) but it erodes the faith in the police and the state until it is solved or dies away.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
But they should stop calling us "Birleşik Krallık" and call us by our proper name United Kingdom instead?
We'd have to first declare that is our official name in Turkish.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
I met Sean Dyche once. He was super nice guy and really interesting. Despite his we eat bricks, we eat nails, fill in the opposition reputation, he is actually well read and knowledgeable about a lot of non-football things.
He was fantastic for me in Championship Manager many years ago. D/M RC. Helped me take Hartlepool to the Champions League.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
But they should stop calling us "Birleşik Krallık" and call us by our proper name United Kingdom instead?
I'm pretty sure when they address us in English, they do. Otherwise, it's all Greek to me.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
You are depressed that our shops are full of cheese from two countries whereas the French have just one? Our local Sainsbury's has British, French, Italian, German, Norwegian and Swiss cheese; oh, and Irish, Cypriot, Greek and possibly even American. Best of all, some of it is pre-sliced.
The real mystery is with the other part of your breakfast. When did French sticks turn into baguettes? Something to do with country of origin rules, perhaps, which takes us back to Dubai chocolate not being from Dubai.
I would have thought the death of a journalist who broke a story that has been massive national debate for 10+ years would be up at the top of the headlines. It is reported by most outlets, you have to really search it out. And of course we can't go into any details about it on here.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
From that well known wokeist, Erdogan.
Erdogan is making us call Peking, Beijing?
We could ask the UN to stop using English as an official language, and the problem would go away.
I’m told the mini market down from the station has a big problem with shoplifters. It appears to be mainly under 18s who have the view they’re untouchable. When adults intervene all they get is abuse as the police don’t turn up if reported.
If you have been around a while you will know this is an occasional and recurring problem in society (Oliver Twist syndrome) but it erodes the faith in the police and the state until it is solved or dies away.
If there’s no consequence for bad behaviour it becomes normalised.
It’s the fault of the police and, unsurprisingly, Theresa May according to this.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
From that well known wokeist, Erdogan.
Erdogan is making us call Peking, Beijing?
We could ask the UN to stop using English as an official language, and the problem would go away.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
You are depressed that our shops are full of cheese from two countries whereas the French have just one? Our local Sainsbury's has British, French, Italian, German, Norwegian and Swiss cheese; oh, and Irish, Cypriot, Greek and possibly even American. Best of all, some of it is pre-sliced.
The real mystery is with the other part of your breakfast. When did French sticks turn into baguettes? Something to do with country of origin rules, perhaps, which takes us back to Dubai chocolate not being from Dubai.
Obviously there is a problem with Fine Cheese Deserts in the UK, if our postie is not finding them.
I volunteer to lead the task force on this - I’m thinking £860k a year, 25% pension contribution, unlimited taxi allowance….
A great deal of fact finding trips will be required, of course.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
That's really not true. UK supermarkets are often great for cheese varieties
Waitrose and M&S are brilliant, and arguably even better than France because they will have more variety - eg British, Italian, Spanish as well as French
Tesco and Sainsburys are generally strong
Even the cheapos aren't terrible
France is probably supreme for cheese offerings in supermarkets but then that makes them the world number 1. Britain is probably sharing silver medal with Spain on this
If you want appalling choice of cheese go to, basically. almost any supermarket outside western Europe, as this article makes eloquently clear:
The only shop I can get decent cheese in at home (I don't shop for it online) is Waitrose. They have a wall of cheddar, like everybody else, but also do some pretty obvious English cheeses (Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and a few more) and some popular foreign ones
French supermarkets give me a massively better selection
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
But they should stop calling us "Birleşik Krallık" and call us by our proper name United Kingdom instead?
I'm pretty sure when they address us in English, they do. Otherwise, it's all Greek to me.
And when I address Turks in Turkish, I would have no problem calling it Turkiye. But I don't see why I should have to use a Turkish word in conversations with other English speakers. What harm was I causing?
Something that certainly has improved recently is Radio 3, whose listening figures are up. The 7pm Classical Mix tape is a daily joy and worth a listen.
Well, it has amusement value, but the interjection half way through that tells you what you are listening to rather grates.
I preferred it before they started doing that.
I rather like that particular change (but take your point) I just enjoy the variety of selections made. Someone is carefully curating the programme, often on themes (Wellness this week) in quite an amusing and entertaining way.
If I'm going to be positive and list things that have also improved (in addition to air, ofcourse and English Whisky ) I would add Dogs. The new mongeral 'doodle' breeds are healthy and good natured and so much pleasanter than the vicious GSD, farm Collies and snappy lap dogs that seemed to be representive of the genus of odd 40 years ago
OT just rediscovered some Ritter's chocolate I bought on PB's recommendation some time back. It's awful. Somewhere between milk and dark chocolate with a waxy texture.
That said, I do not normally eat chocolate anyway.
The Ritter Sport 'butter biscuit' variety is absolute food of the Gods - so long as you mentally approach it as a chocolate biscuit rather than a chocolate bar.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
You’ve lost weight. Your body is telling you to replace it and your mind has gone all Wallace and Gromit.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
Take it up with Erdogan and the UN. ..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
But they should stop calling us "Birleşik Krallık" and call us by our proper name United Kingdom instead?
I'm pretty sure when they address us in English, they do. Otherwise, it's all Greek to me.
And when I address Turks in Turkish, I would have no problem calling it Turkiye. But I don't see why I should have to use a Turkish word in conversations with other English speakers. What harm was I causing?
I don't use it. I think Kolkata is a bit of a pisstake too - it's literally the same word.
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
That's really not true. UK supermarkets are often great for cheese varieties
Waitrose and M&S are brilliant, and arguably even better than France because they will have more variety - eg British, Italian, Spanish as well as French
Tesco and Sainsburys are generally strong
Even the cheapos aren't terrible
France is probably supreme for cheese offerings in supermarkets but then that makes them the world number 1. Britain is probably sharing silver medal with Spain on this
If you want appalling choice of cheese go to, basically. almost any supermarket outside western Europe, as this article makes eloquently clear:
The only shop I can get decent cheese in at home (I don't shop for it online) is Waitrose. They have a wall of cheddar, like everybody else, but also do some pretty obvious English cheeses (Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and a few more) and some popular foreign ones
French supermarkets give me a massively better selection
Waitrose isn't bad.
For online cheese supplies to your door, pongcheese.co.uk is worth checking out. With 5.6% cashback when ordering via Quidco.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
From that well known wokeist, Erdogan.
Erdogan is making us call Peking, Beijing?
We could ask the UN to stop using English as an official language, and the problem would go away.
French is an official language at the UN and they still say Pékin rather than Beijing.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
From that well known wokeist, Erdogan.
Erdogan is making us call Peking, Beijing?
We could ask the UN to stop using English as an official language, and the problem would go away.
French is an official language at the UN and they still say Pékin rather than Beijing.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I think Czechia is now officially preferred by the Czechs (or Czechias?) And we don't go on about Peking any more, do we? Things change.
Turks often call England İngiltere, which strikes me as very much like the French and the Spanish.
My wife and son both have extended-Latin letters in their names. My wife has an s-cedilla (Ş), and my son has a dotted I (İ). You get used to working out how to produce them on various computer systems.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I always find this very strange and confusing. Some places we always have, some places we do now, some places we never do.
…..
From that well known wokeist, Erdogan.
Erdogan is making us call Peking, Beijing?
We could ask the UN to stop using English as an official language, and the problem would go away.
French is an official language at the UN and they still say Pékin rather than Beijing.
Max Burns @themaxburns · 2h Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer tells Justice Amy Coney Barrett that Trump "generally" tries to respect federal court decisions but he has the "right" to disregard legal opinions he personally disagrees with.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I think Czechia is now officially preferred by the Czechs (or Czechias?) And we don't go on about Peking any more, do we? Things change.
Turks often call England İngiltere, which strikes me as very much like the French and the Spanish.
My wife and son both have extended-Latin letters in their names. My wife has an s-cedilla (Ş), and my son has a dotted I (İ). You get used to working out how to produce them on various computer systems.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
I don't mind about Czechia and Peking, because I think those were correctings of misunderstandings.
The i already has a dot! Why does it need another? What does that do? What language is that from?
Anyway, I'm going to go on spelling Turkey as Turkey until the day that I die - like my gran did with her stoic refusal to change her pronunciation of Kenya from Key-nya to Ken-ya. Unless I'm writing to a Turk, of course.
I’m told the mini market down from the station has a big problem with shoplifters. It appears to be mainly under 18s who have the view they’re untouchable. When adults intervene all they get is abuse as the police don’t turn up if reported.
If you have been around a while you will know this is an occasional and recurring problem in society (Oliver Twist syndrome) but it erodes the faith in the police and the state until it is solved or dies away.
If there’s no consequence for bad behaviour it becomes normalised.
It’s the fault of the police and, unsurprisingly, Theresa May according to this.
The main reason the Conservatives lost their majority in 2017 was not social care but the two terrorist outrages during the election campaign, and Theresa May denying that cutting thousands of police officers was somehow connected.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I think Czechia is now officially preferred by the Czechs (or Czechias?) And we don't go on about Peking any more, do we? Things change.
Turks often call England İngiltere, which strikes me as very much like the French and the Spanish.
My wife and son both have extended-Latin letters in their names. My wife has an s-cedilla (Ş), and my son has a dotted I (İ). You get used to working out how to produce them on various computer systems.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
Ingiltere is most like Italian, so they probably got it off the Venetian.
Max Burns @themaxburns · 2h Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer tells Justice Amy Coney Barrett that Trump "generally" tries to respect federal court decisions but he has the "right" to disregard legal opinions he personally disagrees with.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
Since I stopped walking everywhere, and have had longer for breakfast, I've become near obsessed by French soft cheeses that I've never heard of before
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
That's really not true. UK supermarkets are often great for cheese varieties
Waitrose and M&S are brilliant, and arguably even better than France because they will have more variety - eg British, Italian, Spanish as well as French
Tesco and Sainsburys are generally strong
Even the cheapos aren't terrible
France is probably supreme for cheese offerings in supermarkets but then that makes them the world number 1. Britain is probably sharing silver medal with Spain on this
If you want appalling choice of cheese go to, basically. almost any supermarket outside western Europe, as this article makes eloquently clear:
The only shop I can get decent cheese in at home (I don't shop for it online) is Waitrose. They have a wall of cheddar, like everybody else, but also do some pretty obvious English cheeses (Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and a few more) and some popular foreign ones
French supermarkets give me a massively better selection
Waitrose isn't bad.
For online cheese supplies to your door, pongcheese.co.uk is worth checking out. With 5.6% cashback when ordering via Quidco.
We’ve had cheese from there. Very good it was too.
I’m told the mini market down from the station has a big problem with shoplifters. It appears to be mainly under 18s who have the view they’re untouchable. When adults intervene all they get is abuse as the police don’t turn up if reported.
If you have been around a while you will know this is an occasional and recurring problem in society (Oliver Twist syndrome) but it erodes the faith in the police and the state until it is solved or dies away.
If there’s no consequence for bad behaviour it becomes normalised.
It’s the fault of the police and, unsurprisingly, Theresa May according to this.
The main reason the Conservatives lost their majority in 2017 was not social care but the two terrorist outrages during the election campaign, and Theresa May denying that cutting thousands of police officers was somehow connected.
Really? I don’t recall either terrorist attack having that great an impact.
The manifesto launch and “nothing has changed”… Well, that’s a different matter.
Max Burns @themaxburns · 2h Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer tells Justice Amy Coney Barrett that Trump "generally" tries to respect federal court decisions but he has the "right" to disregard legal opinions he personally disagrees with.
So rather like some UK institutions and their attitude to the Supreme Court ruling on the trans issue.
Netanyahu now says flat out that he will not end the war.
Hamas could end the war by surrendering unconditionally and releasing the hostages.
Netanyahu is a bad, corrupt leader who should be replaced but even broken clocks can be right. Why the hell should Israel end the war before Hamas are defeated and before the hostages are released?
Because they are engaged in a crime against humanity.
Israel had the right to wage war against Hamas, and, by extension, the Gaza territory it was the de facto government of, within the bounds of the laws of international conflict. Those bounds have been so consistently breached, and, in its blockade, so grossly breached, that it's time for the international community to act.
Put simply, Israel is not conducting a war of legitimate military action but of, at minimum, ethnic cleansing and, perhaps, extermination. The latter would certainly be the practical outcome of its current policy if continues, as appears to be the Israeli government's intention.
Time to place full sanctions on the regime, and on the country.
I agree with this but can anyone tell me if hostage taking (and murder of said hostages) is a war crime?
Yes, of course it is. So was the original Hamas attack on unarmed civilians, and the murders, rapes and other crimes that accompanied it. That formed a legitimate casus belli.
However, the war crimes of one side do not legitimise* the war crimes of the other, particularly when the other's crimes are considerably in excess of the original.
* There is a case, which I'd agree with, that when one side in a war engages in actions which are illegal but give it an advantage, as a matter of policy, then that legitimises the victim to take proportionate and equivalent actions in retaliation and/or defence. This is dodgy ground legally but it cannot be right that a victim is bound to suffer further - and potentially to lose a war - in defence of a principle that the aggressor rejects. Where is the logic in that? However, that doesn't apply to Israel/Gaza, where Israel started the war with an overwhelming military advantage, and has only increased that advantage since.
An overwhelming military advantage is only relevant when the fight is conventional, but this is not a conventional war.
When Hamas use hospitals as human shields and embed themselves into Gazan society as much as they can, Israel can't use its overwhelming majority advantage so the fighting is going to be riskier and at much more risk of innocent civilian casualties.
Or they could, but it would utterly flatten and wipe out the entire population. Which they could do if they wanted to, but they haven't, quite rightly as it would not be proportional.
Yes they could and it would be genocide but what could/will the world do about it?
That’s the equation in play at the moment
Thankfully Israel isn't doing that, because they're not genocidal, no matter if they regularly get falsely accused of being so.
If Israel were half as bad as they're accused of being, the death toll would be much higher.
Oh, so Israel haven't slaughtered enough of one religious group to be considered genocidal? How many then? Do we have to wait for them to slaughter 6 million?
If they were genocidal then I'd expect 2 million dead approximately - and I would oppose that as evil.
Targetting Hamas, even if it risks collateral damage, OTOH is legitimate.
There are only three ways I can see to avoid collateral damage:
1: Hamas surrenders - my preference. 2: Innocent Palestinians get refuge elsewhere away from the violent conflict - what refuge status and asylum is supposed to be for, is it not? 3: Israel surrenders letting Hamas survive.
I don't see option 3 as acceptable. My preference is 1, then 2, others it seem prefer 3.
Killing 2 million civilians is a bit of a throwing the baby out with the bathwater solution.
I don't believe anyone is supporting Hamas. Some are just a little queasy that in order to resolve the Hamas problem we are looking at incredible levels of collateral damage.
Its reasonable to be queasy about it, but there is no other realistic, serious way of eliminating Hamas than following similar paths to that which eliminated the Tamil Tigers.
Hamas are not the IRA, and its not possible to negotiate with them like that and to try yet again is that definition of insanity quote and something Israel quite reasonably won't countenance after what happened last time.
Either come up with a serious, credible alternative path to completely eliminate Hamas or let Israel finish the job. In the mean time, for any innocent Palestinians, there should be alternative options like refugee status available which is why they exist in times of war.
our 4 star hotels are all full, their pals in neighbouring countries should be sheltering them, they seem to have hundreds of billions to suck Trumps butt, why not help their compatriots.
Jesus, will people stop calling it Turkiye. We don't suddenly have to change the English spelling for Germany or Spain. That u with an umlaut thing doesn't exist in English. I bet the Turks have a Turksih word for England/ Great Britain/ UK. (I dunno. They may not.)
I think Czechia is now officially preferred by the Czechs (or Czechias?) And we don't go on about Peking any more, do we? Things change.
Turks often call England İngiltere, which strikes me as very much like the French and the Spanish.
My wife and son both have extended-Latin letters in their names. My wife has an s-cedilla (Ş), and my son has a dotted I (İ). You get used to working out how to produce them on various computer systems.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
I don't mind about Czechia and Peking, because I think those were correctings of misunderstandings.
The i already has a dot! Why does it need another? What does that do? What language is that from?
Anyway, I'm going to go on spelling Turkey as Turkey until the day that I die - like my gran did with her stoic refusal to change her pronunciation of Kenya from Key-nya to Ken-ya. Unless I'm writing to a Turk, of course.
More generally, on reflection, I find any attempt of other people to change words which were previously perfectly acceptable very irritating. Whether its products, names of pubs, names of cities, renaming 'personnel' as 'human resources', stadiums...
Fair comment? Or just natural political evolution?
If Bobby Generic is telling us not to believe a single word Starmer says based on his past record, that’s fair enough. Actually that’s correct. But then it logically follows that we can’t believe a single word he says too. https://nitter.poast.org/residentadviser/status/1922974252791116178#m
GDP is estimated to be growing at 0.7% Population is estimated to grow at 0.6% this year.
Hmmm….
So almost no growth in real terms.
No, it means the rise in GDP has already more than covered the expected annual growth in population, within just the first 3 months. The next 9 months are bonus.
Lovely firm, but I hadn't put two and two together until I was reading this morning and saw that the Member for North West Hampshire was mentioned......
Me: "John. You're not related to Kit Malthouse are you?"
John: "He's my son and I'm very proud of him."
That's an extra vote for the Conservatives in Bootle then...... maybe they'll get 2 votes next time.....
Comments
All round a rather sad state of affairs.
I used to live next door to some lesbians and they even bought me a Rolex.
I think they misunderstood me when I told them ‘I wanna watch.’
Is it me or is air improved of late? I don't mean quality, I mean mood, variation and caprice
For example, I've noticed an uptick of zephyrs in the last two to three years. Possibly a Brexit benefit, but definitely a thing. Zephyrs are up. Also wafts, chinooks and near-imperceptible quiddities - all on the rise
WHY? My friend Loic thinks it's just draughtier, but then he's always glass half full, wanker
Quick question for our economists. If I install solar panels and a battery on my roof, and use them solely to reduce the amount of electricity I need to buy from the grid, won't that reduce GDP? (As that economic activity - electricity generation - no longer results in a measurable transaction.)
* Essentially taxable economic output, rather than total.
But I'm wondering if we've made a terrible error, allowing them to happen when we could have parks and orchards, where the lesbians used to be
It would be rather unproductive of you.
If we got rid of all ants and their vulgar "nests" we could replace them with charging stations for cordless vacuum cleaners
It's stuff like this that gets me noticed by Nobel prizewinners, and recruited into the "blue sky thinking units" in top G20 governments, while the rest of you waddle around Newent and Wick
But I'm not sure he ever envisaged anything quite as foolish as the stuff that gets posted here daily.
You came out with this tired critique a moment after I posted this:
"ANTS
If we got rid of all ants and their vulgar "nests" we could replace them with charging stations for cordless vacuum cleaners"
Bet you feel a bit of an idiot now, eh. Too late. You made your bed
I preferred it before they started doing that.
https://x.com/michaeldweiss/status/1922972610922463739
Reporter: No Putin in Türkiye. Disappointed?
Trump: No.. I said, why would he go if I’m not going?
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1922919869781070140
https://abc7.com/post/texas-mother-buys-ammunition-tactical-gear-sons-planned-mass-targeted-violence-officials-say/16415981/
The affidavit noted that Pardo was purchasing the gear and ammunition for her son in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings.
The IDF are not in normal circumstances an organisation anyone should want to emulate, though Hamas are considerably worse.
I go to into every fromagerie I see, and linger in the cheese department at all the supermarkets, looking for new cheese
I go out early in the morning to find the freshest baguette, then eat the whole thing with mystery cheese
I've had Saint Félicien, Saint Nectaire, Rocamadour, Neufchâtel, and at least five more, in five days
It's so depressing that our shops are full of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, when we have so many cheeses too
TBH, if you see this through the lens of actions of a mafia boss it makes perfect sense....(perceived) you disrespect me in my own house, we will show you more disrespect by setting you up to embarrass you.
Obviously none of this actually helps.
NEW: Westminster Voting Intention
RFM 30 (+4)
LAB 25 (-1)
CON 18 (-4)
LD 13 (+1)
GRN 7 (-)
OTH 7 (-)
F/w 2nd - 5th May 2025. Changes vs 3rd May
https://x.com/survation/status/1923051918529527930?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
It is tedious and our broadcastees are in thrall to him
Time to get a balance
Since last Saturday the Coastguard, RNLI, Police spotter planes and underwater search teams have been searching for a vulnerable teenager last seen by the water in his bathing trunks.
Extensive daily search have dominated our social media and indeed our son and his colleagues saw the sunset and sunrise whilst spending 8 hours overnight searching for him in the ILB after a spotter plane had located the child
It took a collective gathering of all the rescue services last night at 6.30 for the Conwy ILB to recover his body
The amazing response from the public to these events including a fund raising effort for the RNLI and for the young lads name to be inscribed on Llandudno AWB has been greatly moving
These are the things that matter and a whole community united in support for the young lad, his grieving family, and all the rescue services is what really counts
Büyük Britanya ve Kuzey İrlanda Birleşik Krallığı, or Birleşik Krallık for short.
And is trying to rationalise it in a way that comports with his overweening narcissism.
Working together with Albania, we will deter, detect, and return illegal migrants.
By tackling illegal migration overseas and smashing the gangs at source, we're making our streets safer and easing pressure on public services.
That's my Plan for Change in action.
https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/1922965399248736618?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
..In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed...
It's hardly a matter of great import.
(And no, they probably won't.)
There are plenty of places to get good cheese in the UK, mind. In Jesmond there is a lovely shop called Grate. Has some smashing cheese. Love Cheese in York is great too.
Waitrose and M&S are brilliant, and arguably even better than France because they will have more variety - eg British, Italian, Spanish as well as French
Tesco and Sainsburys are generally strong
Even the cheapos aren't terrible
France is probably supreme for cheese offerings in supermarkets but then that makes them the world number 1. Britain is probably sharing silver medal with Spain on this
If you want appalling choice of cheese go to, basically. almost any supermarket outside western Europe, as this article makes eloquently clear:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/when-it-comes-to-cheese-im-eurocentric/
I’m told the mini market down from the station has a big problem with shoplifters. It appears to be mainly under 18s who have the view they’re untouchable. When adults intervene all they get is abuse as the police don’t turn up if reported.
If you have been around a while you will know this is an occasional and recurring problem in society (Oliver Twist syndrome) but it erodes the faith in the police and the state until it is solved or dies away.
Otherwise, it's all Greek to me.
The real mystery is with the other part of your breakfast. When did French sticks turn into baguettes? Something to do with country of origin rules, perhaps, which takes us back to Dubai chocolate not being from Dubai.
It’s the fault of the police and, unsurprisingly, Theresa May according to this.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/labour-yvette-cooper-chris-philp-labour-party-theresa-may-b1152741.html
I volunteer to lead the task force on this - I’m thinking £860k a year, 25% pension contribution, unlimited taxi allowance….
A great deal of fact finding trips will be required, of course.
French supermarkets give me a massively better selection
If I'm going to be positive and list things that have also improved (in addition to air,
ofcourse and English Whisky ) I would add Dogs. The new mongeral 'doodle' breeds are healthy and good natured and so much pleasanter than the vicious GSD, farm Collies and snappy lap dogs that seemed to be representive of the genus of odd 40 years ago
For online cheese supplies to your door, pongcheese.co.uk is worth checking out. With 5.6% cashback when ordering via Quidco.
https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/04/24/a-pekin-les-centres-commerciaux-nouveaux-temples-de-la-voiture-electrique_6599643_3234.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/15/chinese-kill-switches-found-in-us-solar-farms/ (£££)
Try this gift link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/ffa08391f1c5869a
Imported critical infrastructure. What could go wrong? And not just hostile states if Elon can bork your Tesla with a software update.
Turks often call England İngiltere, which strikes me as very much like the French and the Spanish.
My wife and son both have extended-Latin letters in their names. My wife has an s-cedilla (Ş), and my son has a dotted I (İ). You get used to working out how to produce them on various computer systems.
Incidentally, if you find this confusing, feel sorry for poor Khazaks, who are moving from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based one. Then again, they should be used to it, as in Soviet times they moved from an Arabic alphabet to a Latin one, then to Cyrillic! Four alphabet changes in about a century...
@themaxburns
·
2h
Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer tells Justice Amy Coney Barrett that Trump "generally" tries to respect federal court decisions but he has the "right" to disregard legal opinions he personally disagrees with.
Coney Barrett seems to be in disbelief.
https://x.com/themaxburns/status/1923032363958726943
The i already has a dot! Why does it need another? What does that do? What language is that from?
Anyway, I'm going to go on spelling Turkey as Turkey until the day that I die - like my gran did with her stoic refusal to change her pronunciation of Kenya from Key-nya to Ken-ya. Unless I'm writing to a Turk, of course.
The manifesto launch and “nothing has changed”… Well, that’s a different matter.
David is pro E.U. as a rule but they do not come out of this well.
https://x.com/davidheniguk/status/1922902446742900874?s=61
If Bobby Generic is telling us not to believe a single word Starmer says based on his past record, that’s fair enough. Actually that’s correct. But then it logically follows that we can’t believe a single word he says too.
https://nitter.poast.org/residentadviser/status/1922974252791116178#m
I post infrequently, read a lot, a few likes but otherwise I'm mostly a lurker.
Bootle Lib Dem, and Chartered Accountant.
Anyway, I changed firms a few months ago; it wasn't working out in my old place.
I joined a really nice firm, Malthouse and Company: https://www.malthouse.com/meet-the-team
Lovely firm, but I hadn't put two and two together until I was reading this morning and saw that the Member for North West Hampshire was mentioned......
Me: "John. You're not related to Kit Malthouse are you?"
John: "He's my son and I'm very proud of him."
That's an extra vote for the Conservatives in Bootle then...... maybe they'll get 2 votes next time.....